


Driving Us Crazy

by temporalenthusiast



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Tags May Change, this is pretty dumb
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-01-20 02:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1493014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/temporalenthusiast/pseuds/temporalenthusiast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Really dumb rvb AU. They will eventually remember about blood gulch and such, Caboose starts as the only one who remembers. They all live in the same small town. I am a loser-wimp so there actually won't be cussing. This started from the idea they had cars that matched their armor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It Is Midnight and I Don't Have A Creative Chapter Name

**Author's Note:**

> So, I should be studying, I should be working on CFaFJ, but no, here I am, with my first rvb fic. This is probably going to evolve weirdly, you have been warned. Please let me know what you think, and I think this chapter should be a good starting block for the rest of the AU. Any problems/questions/ect. can also be sent to my tumblr, temporalenthusiast. (edit, upped it to teen instead of general because of what I'm planning and it's better safe than sorry)

Church woke up Monday, still sore from paintball Sunday. A quick glance at the clock let him know that he actually got up on time for once, and he got up to wake his roommate. He turned off his alarm before it went off and rolled out of bed. On his way to the bathroom he hit the adjacent door as loud as he could.

"Tucker if you're not up by the time I'm out of the shower, you're gonna have to drive that piece of junk to work." After hearing a loud mumbled complaint Church decided to get ready, and if Tucker was late then he was late. By the time Church had gotten out, Tucker had begun scouring the fridge.

"Tex won't be happy if we're late again, grab some coffee, we'll get breakfast later, you forgot to get groceries yesterday numskull." Church worked on his own mug of coffee while his roommate continued to look for anything edible.

"That mean purple chick was working the register, and I was not about to ask Caboose."

"Both good points, but if you don't pick it up today you're walking to work for the next week. What'd that chick ever do to you though? Did she shoot you down?"

"No, well yes, but she threatened to shoot me. Like, with a gun."

"Serves you right, we're leaving in five," He grabbed his keys and wallet, grabbed his mug of coffee then went to wait in the stairwell. He leaned against the wall next to the door to wait out the five minutes. It seemed his neighbor had a similar idea. A red haired man in a maroon tee was drinking out of a travel mug. Simmons was probably waiting for Grif.

"How you doing, you no good dirty blue?" The words were surprisingly cheerful for their content.

"Better than you probably filthy red. How long did it take to get the blue out of your hair?"

"Not that long, I have a good shampoo"

"That was rhetorical idiot." Both parties were quiet for a while, sipping their caffeine and waiting. 

"So," Simmons looked up at this "how's Grif?"

"Oh, he's fine I guess, getting a promotion after he drops off the kindergartners"

"Do bus drivers even get promotions?"

"Well the bus driver from 479 quit, so they're gonna pay Grif almost double if he takes over for her."

 "And that doesn't seem suspicious at all, she just quit 3/4 of the way through the school year."

"Yeeah, Flowers isn't telling us any more than that. So I'm making Grif take it so he can actually pull his own weight around here."

"Well he might have to take up another job to do that, hehehe"

"Oh, suck it blue"

"Up yours red, anyways,"

"Well I'm going to be going with him today, see what it's like."

"You've never gone with him before?"

"Kids don't really like me, but I figured because it's his last day with them and all."

"Well good luck to you then. It's been five minutes, he's walking." He stopped leaning against the wall and started taking off down the stairs.

"Hope you burn your hand!" Yet another oddly statement, this one coupled with a friendly wave.

"Hope one of Grif's brats bite you!" A quick turn and half wave accompanied this before he opened the door and left.

Every time that Church parked in the apartment parking lot he made sure it was as far away from the entrance, and Cabooses' house, as possible. He still wasn't sure how he hit it that last time, but he wasn't taking any more chances. That guy was crazy, pretty good at paintball, not too bad a guy, but he had a legitimate problem. He kept insisting they were best friends, and he was sorry about that time he killed him by accident, and he never really got what anyone was saying at any given time. He was useful to have around however, he was strong as an ox and would gladly do any odd deed with a smile, as long as you were sure he wouldn't mess it up.

Tex lived in the second apartment building, so that was where Church was going to inform her that Tucker would not be joining the ride to work as he was too lazy to get up at a reasonable time. Most of the Blood Gulch paintball crew lived in the apartments, exceptions being Sarge and Caboose. Most game nights, Wednesdays, were spent at either of the two houses, and the hosting team would provide snack and drink. The red team leader naturally went with a colored theme for their snack, if Church saw one more can of code-red mountain dew, he was going to puke on all of red team. Caboose typically just had a bunch of boxes of girl scout cookies and whatever sodas the grocery store had up front, the reds still tried to sneak their food in.

Anyways, back to picking up Tex. He waved at the Dakotas as they set off to run the grocery store and get that kid (their younger brother? Church didn't know.)Ted to the bus on time. He went up the two flights of stairs and knocked on the door.

"Hey, it's me, I think we're ditching Tucker today." The door opened to reveal a dressed and ready Tex, holding a bowl of cereal in one hand.

"Good, he better not be late or I may just "accidentally" forget to watch his back next Sunday." She finished it off and dropped it in the sink and grabbed her bag.

"Let's go" The walk over to the beat up light blue car was fairly quiet, this unsettled Church a bit.

"You okay? Normally you'd be bragging about your shooting last night, Simmons still has some blue on his ear, didn't point it out to him though."

"That was a good shot, wasn't it. Sorry, I had the weirdest dream last night, I'm still feeling a little haunted." 

"Well that sucks." Tex gave a quick laugh and rolled her eyes as she got into the passenger seat.

"Thanks, suddenly the odd feeling hanging over me has vanished, you should look into being a therapist."

"Fine, uh, wanna talk about it then?" He began to pull out of the parking lot,

"Maybe later... PUNCHBUGGY NO PUNCH BACK, HA!" The car swerved as the driver was punched in the shoulder with considerable force.

"What!? Caboose should've left already!" Looking back, he saw the bright blue slugbug was definitely parked in front of the equally blue house.

"He took the truck today, Wash is finally getting reinforcements so Caboose is going to help move the desks into the station."

"Son of a- and you knew about this?"

"It helps to try and keep contacts, typically the only cop in town would be an obvious choice."

They drove in silence for about a minute.

"So about that dream you had?" He heard her sigh loudly.

"I'm not too sure myself. Just, if I were to, you know, die. What  would you do?"

"Woah, you're having dreams about dying? You sure you don't need to talk to Doc or something, that sounds messed up."

"Not exactly, but, if I did... You wouldn't do anything drastic to get me back would you?"

"You mean like... necromancy or something?"

"Yeah, that sounded dumb the moment it came out of your mouth, just do me a favor and don't grow a beard."

They pulled up at a restaurant in the town small shopping center, the unlit sign above announced it was "Valhalla". 

"My choice of facial hair aside, lets get this place opened up."

\---------

Grif wasn't in any hurry. He knew that Simmons wouldn't ditch him no matter how slow he went, and that he didn't have to pick up kindergartners for another half an hour. Until he overheard Simmons talking about him getting a promotion, he was sitting on the couch next to the door eavesdropping and eating toaster waffles. Oh that was today. He got up, and put on a clean shirt, gotta make a good impression on the kids. Grif would be a little sad about leaving the kindergartners; he got to nap and head home early most days, not to mention they'd give him their snack if they didn't like it. It was surprising how many kids didn't like animal crackers and goldfish. After procrastinating for five more minutes he finally grabbed his lanyard that designated him as a bus driver, bus keys, and headed outside.

"About time." Simmons was holding an empty coffee mug looking rather bored.

"C'mon, it's my last day with the kids, cut me some slack." They started walking down the stairs.

"And before it was because "It's Friday", and "I want to let the kids get some rest before going to school, they're starting another book today, it's about letters" how did you even know that, I can't make out half of what they say." 

"It's a gift, what can I say."

"Just because you have the same IQ-" Just then Tucker burst out of his own apartment, ran down the stairs, past Grif and Simmons, out the door, and into the parking lot.

"He actually left me!" Tucker actually looked fairly distressed. Grif laughed at him.

"You have to drive that piece of junk? Good luck" While the car in question, a teal 64 impala with white designs, looked far from a junker, it was known to break down consistently or even not start up at all. The owner had been bent on making it look nice "to pick up chicks" that he skimped on quality parts for the engine.

"Well why don't you guys give me a ride and I'll help you sneak in more code-red on Wednesday." While the offer was tempting, there was a glaring issue.

"Nerdy Mcgee's car only seats two. Smartcar, remember"

"Dude, that's so lame."

"It's the most fuel efficient car out there, an obvious choice"

"Better start running, blue!" Tucker made a noise of disgust and started jogging in the appropriate direction. Both reds laughed and got into previously mentioned maroon smartcar.

"Smartcar's still dumb though"

"You could walk."

"Nah, you wouldn't do that" 

"Fine, let's go"

Their trip to the elementary school went quicker than expected. They parked in the far back, next to the parked buses

"Why are you getting out?"

"I want to see what they're like. I have my phone on me in case anyone calls, but there's nothing scheduled. Besides, you have to get to the middleschool and I'd rather not drive all the way back here to drive you for half a minute."

"Nerd. Fine, but I'm not sharing the snacks"

Grif pulled out the keys and unlocked the bus, he started it up and Simmons stepped on and plopped himself in the seat behind Grif's.

"Uh-uh, that's Junior's seat"

"Who's Junior? One of the kids?"

"If by, "one of the kids" you mean the coolest little man this side of the planet. I can't understand half of what he says, but he's still pretty chill."

"Well I'm sitting here, Junior can move" Grif gave a shrug

"Suit yourself"

Long story short: Simmons was sitting next to a rambunctious child for most of the trip.

Short story long: Grif had high-fived the kid when he'd gotten on at the second stop and Junior had sat down next to Simmons. The kid then realized he wasn't sure who this adult was and got back up before the bus started moving, tugged on Grif's sleeve and pointed at Simmons, letting out a confused noise.

"That's Simmons, he's a nerd. Just ignore him, he's being stubborn." The kid climbed back into the seat and stared at Simmons. 

"Grif, he's staring at me"

"He does that, just ignore it and he'll stop." Thankfully on the next stop Junior did. Because his friend showed up. And they proceeded to jump on their respective seats and yell at the other across the aisle. Finally they arrived back at the elementary school and it was time for Grif to say his last goodbyes to the kindergartners. As each of them got off he told them different variations of "farewell and live a good life" in the most dramatic voice he could muster. Many of them gave him food, a couple gave him drawings, and at least two started crying. Simmons decided he could at least say something to the brat he sat next to, if he was such "good friends" with Grif.

"Well Junior, I guess this is goodbye? I haven't known you for thirty minutes, and probably won't miss you all that much but still. I think you started to grow on me." He held his hand out to shake the smaller child's. Junior took one look at the hand and bit it.

"You son of a-" Simmons took his hand back to inspect the tooth markings. Meanwhile Grif began laughing uncontrollably in the drivers seat.

"Nice one Junior! Stay cool little man." Grif high-fived the child as he got off. Junior then ran back onto the bus, being the last one, and gave Grif a lollipop before running back down to go to school.

"That kid's vicious."

"Why do you think he's my favorite? He bit at least half the teachers he's been with, drawing blood too, but his dad's like, this really scary foreign crime lord? I dunno, but I think he liked you, he didn't even go for the throat, much less draw blood." Grif parked the bus in the back and began walking up to the front of the school to give the keys back.

"YOU THOUGHT HE'D TRY AND BITE MY THROAT AND DIDN'T WARN ME?" Grif ignored the secretary's questioning look as he handed her the bus keys.

"Eh, told you it was his spot." He made sure it sounded like it was an obvious connection.

"C'mon, let's head on over to the middleschool, I want to see my new bus." Simmons, not so silently fuming, drove Grif the short distance to the middleschool, dropped him there, and headed back to the apartment, presumably to sanitize his hand.

Grif thought it went well.

\---------

"You sure you can carry all those, son?" the man in a red t-shirt and camouflage pants was walking behind a taller man in a blue polo who was carrying five paper grocery bags.

"Yes. Are you my father? Because if so I don't know if this counts toward getting my cape. You are usually supposed to carry your parent groceries when they get old. Like you." 

"Just put the bags in my truck Caboose,"

"Yes, Is it the red one?"

"It's been the red one for the past however long I've lived in this town, why would it change now."

"Well sometimes people's favorite color changes, agent Washington's used to be gray, but then he liked light blue, like Church, and I kept getting confused, but then that one time with Freckles-"

"Just put them in the car."

"Okay" Sarge watched as Caboose left the store, while he stayed inside.

There were five registers inside the supermarket. Three were in use, well two now that Caboose had left with Sarge's groceries. The second the blue was far enough away the red leader sprinted to an aisle that had office supplies, grabbed a pack of sharpies and ran to the cashier with a mustache, not that scary lady.

"Hey, got the stuff, how much" The cashier's head popped up and a very business man smile went on his face.

"Ten dollars and my usual fee."

"Ten? Fine, um hows about... Knock knock"

"Whose there?"

"Arfur"

"Arfur who?

"Arfur got the punchline"

"Eh, good enough, I suppose." He rung up the sharpies(4.95) then put the change into his own pocket.

"Pleasure doing business with you Wyoming."

"Always happy to help." 

Sarge stuffed the sharpies into his pocket as Caboose got back.

"I put your bags in the back, I wonder if nice purple man will give me my supermarket cape now. I think I will ask."

"Yeah, you do that kid"

Immediately outside the store's door was a sign. "Do not give permanent markers to the paintball players." Naturally this was covered in permanent marker, someone had crossed out the not and many of the scribbles were saying variations of "Suck it blue" and "Red team sux" Sarge looked both ways and on one of the "Red team sux" he crossed out "sux" and wrote "is the best". Happy with his work he proceeded to walk out to his red truck. As Caboose said, his bags were in the back. After ensuring they weren't damaged in any real way he moved them to the passenger seat. A very quick drive later he was in front of Valhalla. He grabbed one of the bags and got out. Once inside the restaurant he stood by the door until Tex stopped by.

"Got your groceries, now wheres my card."

"Hold on old man, I'm making sure you've gotten everything on the list" A few more moments spent rustling through the bag. and she nodded in approval and pulled out a small rectangle of paper. On it was printed "Get out of Jail free, use this card to get out of jail for a minor infraction." it was signed sloppily at the bottom.

"Don't spend it all at once"

"Don't tell me what to do blue."

Happy with this transaction as well, the red team leader went back out to his truck and pulled something out of the toolbox in the back. He loaded the shotgun and got back into the truck. Time to protect the town of Blood Gulch.

\---------

Officer Washington was sitting in his police car on the side of the road, keeping an eye out for speeding cars and any other such things. It had been an uneventful morning so far, but as the clock neared noon he feared it was going to change. Backup was due at twelve thirty. As he was taking yet another small sip of his lukewarm coffee he saw a bright red truck turn the corner. The driver was holding a shotgun in his free hand.

"Son of a-" He turned on the sirens and chased down the car. He could see the driver muttering under his breath as he reluctantly pulled over. 

"Oh why, hello there officer, I didn't see you the-"

"Don't give me that, I am always parked on this road. Every day of the week, I am parked right there, looking for out of town-ers that can't read signs. The only time I'm not parked here is after three or if I get a call telling me to go somewhere else."

"But this time is when I always patrol. When the sun is high as well as the chance of danger."

"Everyone's at work now, except for you" Wash sounded a lot more tired than angry, but he was getting there.

"Criminals are never off duty, so neither am I"

"The most illegal thing going on right now is you. There are at least three different ways you could go around this road and still complete your route."

"But this is the right way to go! Now officer, if you'll excuse me, I need to finish my rounds before I deem you the biggest threat around here."

"Did you seriously just- You can't threaten a cop! That's- I'm not even sure what that is. It's at least a three. Get in the back, put the shotgun down"

"Can I put the shotgun down in the back?"

"No." After a brief argument Sarge was in the back of the gray and yellow cop car, and they were on their way down to the station.

"What if I told you I had one of them Get out of jail cards."

"Then I'd probably ask what favor you did Tex."

"Got her groceries, dropped em off before I got here"

"Well I still have to tally up however many points this is, then see if that'll cover it." Washington had decided long ago, he was not paid enough to deal with the paintballers. He then worked with them to create a system of points. They agreed on rules, stuck them in a binder and all signed the agreement. No one was quite sure the legality of it, but if they didn't bring it up, he wouldn't bring up the number of laws they'd actually broken. He knew they were just troublemakers and not actually dangerous, so this was by far the best way of dealing with their childish antics. As competition was a good motivator, Wash decided that it would be smart for there to be a reward for not getting in trouble. Whoever had the least points at the end of every other week got a card that would allow them to skip the cell time and walk out free. Tex always got those. Tex also had a printer at her house and made copies of them to give to the other idiots in return for favors. He let them slide for the most part. Today he was not in a very forgiving mood. He had reinforcements coming, which he was very grateful for, but he didn't know how they would react to his childish solution. He didn't know what to expect, he'd been calling the state police headquarters for years, and now they finally decide to give him a hand? Either way, he was expecting either bottom of the barrel or extremely strict officers.

Once at the station, Wash took a cursory glance at the card, fake. Sarge was gonna get time in the cell then.

"Sorry Sarge, but the stars aren't right for this card to be used." He lead the veteran towards the farthest of three cells in the relatively small police station. As the furthers one it was covered in drawings, he reserved this one for the reds and blues. It was covered in similar graffiti to that seen on the poster informing people that they were not allowed sharpies. Also a surprising amount of cartoon dicks.

"What! This is an outrage, Texas handed this to me this morning" Wash locked him in the cell, and put the keys back on the single desk in the entire office area.

"Yeah, it would have worked then, but like you were saying, the sun's pretty far up there right now, that counts as a star, right?"

"Can I have it back," Sarge had pulled a red sharpie out of his pocket and begun writing trash talk on the wall.

"We'll see," He pulled out a black binder that held a few sheets of paper.

"So, patrols are three, I'd say two for threatening, and one for causing problems. So a total of six hours cell time, I'll bring you lunch around two thirty." On a piece of paper on the back, Washington tallied the hours. Sarge currently had more points than the other three members of his team combined.

Had Washington been paying attention he would have noticed the brunet man who had entered during his tallying of points. However, because he wasn't, he was startled when the man spoke.

"Hey, did someone call for reinforcements?"

"Oh! Yes, sorry, I was taking care of something." The man looked over towards the cell Sarge was in. This gave Washington a good view of the scar running up the left side of his face, he still looked handsome despite it. The new officer, however, got a good view of an adult man scribbling male genitals on the wall of a cell already covered in marker.

"So I see."

"Sorry, I've got my own way of dealing with these guys, they're just immature, but no real problem." Wash heard Sarge mutter something about him being at least twice as old as the others.

"You're staring" Wash hadn't taken his eyes off the man's face since he saw the scar, and kept glancing at it.

"What no! Kind of, sorry."

"It's fine, just not quite used to it myself,"

"Uh, how'd you get it, if you don't mind"

"Got caught up in a domestic violence case, better I got it than it's intended target. The man in charge thought a small town would be best place to stick me."

"Well, the only really interesting thing around here are the reds and blues."

"Rival gangs?" Wash couldn't help a quick laugh.

"Yeah, like the kind you'd find pre-teens making. They go up against each other for paintball each Sunday, and board games each Wednesday."

"They don't sound like too much trouble then"

"Like I said, I've got my own way of dealing with these guys." He motioned towards the binder he still had out.

"I'm Washingon, everyone calls me Wash though. The last two syllables are a bit too hard to pronounce apparently."

"Well someone's got a sense of humor then, I'm York." York gave him a strong handshake. Wash could feel himself warming up to the guy, maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

Then he saw the guy who looked like he walked right out of a poster warning about gang violence that had been leaning against the door frame. He was tall, (Wash wasn't sure how tall besides "pretty freaking") well built, (he thought Caboose was a tank but now he wasn't so sure) and had quite a few tattoos (Wash couldn't make out what they were, but there were plenty of them). Wash only noticed him when he let out a noise that could have been a laugh and Wash had almost fallen out of his chair. York looked mildly impressed where Washington looked terrified.

"What's so funny tough guy?" The said "tough guy" held out his hand, he had the card suits across his knuckles, he spoke in a quiet growling voice,

"Maine." York shook the extended hand without hesitation. Wash shook it with a lot of hesitation, but the handshake was surprisingly gentle.

"So the guy up top does have a sense of humor." Wash could feel himself flat out staring at the two new additions and decided to check on getting those desks in here.

"I- uh, I'm going to call Caboose, I- He's bringing the desks to go in here,  he should be here soon anyways. Um, keep an eye on Sarge." Wash left the office to go make the call, it might not be as bad as it could be, but this should at least be interesting.

"Hey, Caboose"

"Yes, who is this."

"This is Washington, I'm calling abou-"

"Are you calling about my cape."

"No, about the desks."

"Okay, what about them"

"I need you to drop them off for me, could you do that right now?"

"But agent Washingtub, it isn't break time"

"When is break time then?"

"Uuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmm. Break time is in two minutes, but that's when I'm supposed to bring over Washigtoe's des- Oh wait! You are agent Rushington!

"Yes Caboose, I am."

"Okay, You will have your desks before break time is over and it is then working time again."

"Thank you Caboose"

"You are welcome"

Wash hung up the phone, ran a hand through his hair, and went back inside. York had taken his chair and was idly spinning while Maine was inspecting the binder. Once both noticed he was back, York shot a quick glance(or was it a glare?) towards the other and Maine looked down on him from the corner of his eye before turning his attention towards Wash.

"So how'd it go?"

"Talking with Caboose is always an experience, but they should be here soon, his break's an hour and he'll be heading down soon with the desks."

"So we're using up this guy's lunch break to move these?"

"Not really, he get breaks- well, others actually get breaks from him periodically."

"He okay?" Maine surprised them by speaking up.

"Not really, but he's a good kid, if he says anything, well, rude, to be honest, just try and roll with it."

They exchanged some small talk while they waited, mostly about the Paintball crew. Sarge was more than happy to insert his opinion.

 When Caboose showed up, he made his presence known by knocking repeatedly on the door. Conversation died down and Wash got up to get the door.

"Hey Caboose" The blue had a towel duct-taped to his back. Caboose bounded inside once the door was open.

"Hi. Oh! you did not tell me you had new friends, I like meeting new frie- wait a minute." Caboose stopped, everyone, but Sarge, was looking at him as he got very close to Maine and squinted his eyes a little.

"Have I known you before?"

"No"

"Lies!" Wash sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, here we go again.

"You took my leprechaun, and then Church. Where did you put them? Are you hiding them in your pictures?" Anyone else probably would have run from the big, fairly intimidating man who was asking about leprechauns, but Maine, a bigger, more intimidating man, just shrugged and offered Caboose a candy to make up for his supposed loss. After a moment of thinking it over, Caboose popped the candy in his mouth and went out to go move the desks.

"Did that just work?" Wash was more than a bit surprised.

Maybe change was a good thing. Wash hoped so, they were sure to see much more of it soon.

 ---------

If Grif had his phone on, he would've gotten a call. If Grif knew where his phone was, he'd have seen a message. However, he didn't have it on and didn't know where it was, so he didn't know that his sister was on her way over for a visit. He'd find out later, when it was a bit too late to make any plans. Right now he was sitting outside of the principal's office at the middle school. A kid left the office, Grif could've sworn this his jacket was smoking slightly.

"Next" Grif got up and entered the room, at the desk sat principal Flowers, his hair tied back and an eerie smile on his face. Grif closed the door most of the way.

"Hi there Dexter, I can't thank you enough for taking this job!"

"Uh, no problem?"

"I've already spoken with the kids, they shouldn't be any problem at all now. If they give you any trouble be sure to let me know! I want you to be as comfortable as possible here." Grif shifted on his feet awkwardly.

"So, can I get the keys?"

"Of course you can, I'll just talk to the kids again before they get on, if you don't mind, Dex." He handed a singular key over to the bus driver. Grif tried to pick it up while touching the man's hand as little as possible. He was really glad Flowers declined the blue's request; he'd probably actually kill them. Also, guy was just plain scary.

"Okay then, bye, I guess" He walked out of the office before the middle school principal could continue the conversation, he'd gotten what he'd came for. He made a beeline for the buses parked in the back, there were two of them, and unlocked the one marked 479. He got into the seat and broke into the small stash of food he had acquired. He halfheartedly flipped though the route next to the drivers seat, it was similar enough to his other one. About forty kids, ten stops. In the back was a list of rules that the other bus driver must've made, he just ignored those entirely, he'd make his own rules. Ten minutes passed and students began to file out, the other bus driver had pulled up in front of the school and about a third of the kids piled in. Grif started up the engine and made his way to a group of kids that were all looking anywhere but Flowers as he lectured them. The red pulled up and opened the door, to the relief of the students, it meant Flowers' speech was cut short.

"Hop on in. You can call me Grif, if you have any food or drink, do not hesitate to share with your driver." He glanced over the kids as they entered the bus quietly and filled in the seats from back to front.

"I've given them a stern talking too, they should be angels this whole ride-"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks a bunch. I gotta go, don't want to be late my first day"

"Of cours-" Grif closed the door in the middle of the man's sentence.

Once he drove out of the parking lot, he noticed how quiet the kids seemed to be. He thought for a moment about how to fix that. Music, kids like music right? He turned the radio on and flipped through channels until he found one that was playing what it claimed was the top hits. After the silence didn't break, he decided to steal a glance back at them. He saw half the kids look like they were told Santa wasn't real, the other half looked awed. He wondered what was so wrong about it until he listen to the lyrics. He snorted, so that's the problem.

"What, you guys never hear a swear before?"

One dark haired girl sitting close to the front spoke up,

"It's just that the other bus driver didn't even let us listen to our own music!"

"Is it that bad? Should I turn it off?" He almost started to worry that he broke some of the kids.

"No! It's just that, we had expected..." She trailed off, obviously unsure of what she'd expected.

"What, me to be boring? Nah, you guys are old enough to have some fun, just don't get yourselves hurt and we'll be just fine. What's your name anyways, kid?"

"Vanessa."

"You got a favorite station?"

"Well, I like this one."

"Then we'll keep it, Vanessa. Welcome to the Grif Bus, no boring adults allowed here." He pulled up seamlessly to the first stop, as though it had been scripted.

"Okay, first stop here you go." Another quick glance in the mirror as the first few got off showed that they'd started changing their seats around, and were talking animatedly. The girl, Vanessa, had a group of her friends around her, they were talking about how cool they thought he was, and he smiled a bit more. Things were looking up.

A few more seconds listening to the group Vanessa was in, and he would've caught the sentiment that began to fill the bus; "This guy is, like, our king or something". But, as it was, he was just happy his first day went well, even if they didn't have leftover goldfish and animal crackers.


	2. And It's Only Tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick look at Wash and the cops, some things going on at the middleschool and various other shenanigans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodness gracious this is late, very sorry about that. I had life happening and finals week popped up. But enough excuses, more characters and some plot advancement!

By the time Wash pulled up to the police station, someone else was already there. A tan jeep was parked out front, the lights on. After a moment's panic he remembered that he'd given out keys to the new guys. They seemed to be accepting enough of the unorthodox Agreement he'd made, Maine had actually asked for a copy of the rules. Entering the building he found that York was trying to figure out how to work the coffee machine.

"Didn't think you'd be here so early,"

"Yeah, well, I decided it would be smart to get a head start on organizing my stuff, start getting a feel for the place, you know?" On one of the desks, Washington saw a plethora of "I heart New York" souvenirs. He picked up a snowglobe with the skyline in it, and shook it a bit. The other desk was empty, Maine hadn't shown up yet, understandable as he wasn't expected to be there for another forty minutes.

"I'm guessing this one's your then?"

"How'd you know? It's been a running thing with a couple of my old friends, you'd be surprised how slowly it gets old." He seemed satisfied with the coffee maker and let it run while he went over to continue organizing his desk.

"So I'll give you a quick tour of the town later. Now that we have enough people to watch the main road and patrol, things should be a lot easier."

"Were things that bad before?"

"No, it was just... Hard to juggle all of that by myself." Maine came in to see the two standing around. He was holding the Agreement under his arm, and a paper bag in the other.

"Am I late?"

"Yeah, didn't you get the memo, everyone's supposed to show up forty minutes before you're supposed to be here. And you're only thirty minutes early." Maine gave a vague growl at the one eyed cop and set the paper bag and the Agreement down on Wash's desk.

"Brought breakfast." Wash rummaged through the bag and pulled out a donut, he offered one to York, who refused, then popped it in his mouth.

"And here I though that was a stereotype," York poured two cups of coffee and handed one to Washington. It wasn't even time to start patrol Wash already had breakfast and caffeine to get him through the morning, if he'd known backup would be this useful, he'd have bugged HQ at least twice as much.

 "After I show you around we could go get lunch at Valhalla, it's really the best place around here. It's run by most of the paintballers on the blue team so I can introduce you to the rest of them." They both seemed to like the idea, Wash broke into a grin

"Great, it's a date then! We can take my car, wanna go now? It'll take a while to cover all our bases, best to start now." He finished the donut and took another sip of the coffee before heading back out of the station, the others following suit.

For the most part the ride was quiet, Washington would occasionally point spots out as they drove along, they'd respond from the backseat and then things would get really quiet again.

"So, uh, where are you guys staying?" Maine gave his one word answer first,

"Hotel" The only hotels close by were a good bit out of town, and usually weren't that nice.

"Really? Do you have a long term place yet?"

"No"

"Well, my apartment's two bedroom, but it's just me there right now. If you gave me a day to clean it up, you could move in. I-I mean if you wanted to, I'd be okay if you didn't want to room with some guy you just met yesterday-" The tattooed cop cut him off with a shrug, grin, and one word response,

"Sure"

"What about you, York? I know this guy, Derek, he's a bit odd, but I'm sure he'd be glad to help." There was a moment before the one eyed cop responded.

"No, I'm fine for now anyways, I'm watching a friends house while she's out of town. Make sure the plants don't die and all that."

"You know someone here? That's good, I guess."

"I don't plan on staying there once she gets back of course. we've got a bit of a history between us. It'd be just a little bit awkward living together."

Wash began driving them down the main road.

"So here's where I normally watch for speeders. And Sarge."

"I've been meaning to ask, that can't seriously be his name can it?"

"Might as well be! The entire time I've known him, he's never given any other name, and I can't find it anywhere. Believe me I've looked." A red truck began rolling down the street, but stopped once it noticed the cop car.

"Speak of the devil." Wash rolled down his window and stuck his head out.

"I swear to god Sarge, I will take that gun from you and lock you up for eternity" A faint reply,

"No you won't"

"I can sure as heck try" The truck's windows rolled back up and Sarge turned the vehicle around, driving dejectedly back the way he came. He was probably still a bit mad that Washington didn't give him the get out of jail free card back.

Yup, Sarge-drama all but avoided, and backup that doesn't hate him. Wash had a feeling things would still go up from here. He'd already had a good week and it was only Tuesday.

\---------

Donut was subbing for the gym teacher while she was out of town at a boxing match in North Carolina. Monday with the sixth graders had gone just fine, they'd been playing with jumpropes, and that was fun. Today he had the seventh graders, and volleyball wasn't going too well, the groups had trouble hitting the ball more than once before having to serve again. Despite the no spiking rule, many kids had gotten close to having to head down to the school nurse. They'd started throwing and kicking the balls at each other instead.

"Mr. Donut, the ball got stuck" He looked up from where he was watching over the individual games, a kid in a red tee and blue gym shorts was pointing to the spot. Sure enough, wedged in the ceiling was a neon yellow volleyball, among many other balls that had previously gotten stuck.

"Don't bug him Theodore, he'd need a ladder to get it down." His friend in a black tee and red shorts went to go get another ball. Donut looked at the ball and thought hard. Would that work? Worth a shot.

"Hold on Sigmund, I can do this." The substitute gym teacher went and found a baseball in the box holding the various sports equipment. He moved around to find the right angle to do this, all or nothing. He threw the ball and it hit the volleyball at just the right angle that they both came falling down. The volleyball landed and rolled away, Donut avoided the falling baseball.

"See? No problem!" Donut was met with enthusiastic cheering. He spent the rest of the class throwing baseballs various balls kids pointed out. They'd forsaken the game to look for more he could get down; they ended the class with five more volleyballs than they started out with. 

"Have a great day, I expect to see all of you after lunch, we're having a pop quiz! Surprise!" This was met with several groans and one mutter of "It's not a surprise if you tell us."

"Use your study time wisely, don't blow it." As the students left to change in the locker rooms, one in a light blue shirt came up to him, saying a quick goodbye to his friends.

"Hi there Gary, what's up?"

"Hey, I have a headache, I won't be in class for the quiz."

"Oh no, did you get hit by one of the balls?"

"No"

"Do you just need some water?"

"No"

"Are you coming down with some kind of airborne zombie plague, and after the first symptoms, headache and fear of the color orange, you crave human flesh and try to eat us all?"

"...No"

"Okay, I'm out of ideas, let's go see Doc, I was actually just on my way down there."

"No, no, I don't want to waste his time."

"You won't be wasting his time, promise!"

Donut quickly stopped by his classroom and picked up his lunchbox before escorting Gary up to the nurse's office. The sign on the outside read "Frank DuFresne" but someone had scribbled over it and put "DOC". Inside Doc was sitting at his desk, fiddling with his hands, looking rather bored. His roommate O'malley was sitting in the corner next to the counter, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, looking quite childish. Doc's face lit up when he saw his visitors, O'malley just gave them a passing glance.

"Hi Donut. Who's your friend?"

"Gary, he says he has a headache, and it's not any of the usual things, so I brought him up here."

"Oh, well. Does he have a fever?" 

"I don't know," Doc put a plastic covering over the thermometer and handed it to Donut who handed it to Gary who had been just standing there.

"Here, let me know when that beeps." Doc then got up and went over to the small fridge. He pulled out a purple lunchbox, and started to walk back over. O'malley looked up at the motion.

"Get mine while you're over there"

"It would be nice of you to say please"

"Nah" Doc grabbed O'malley's lunch for him anyways. The thermometer went off. O'malley snagged the thermometer from the kid.

"It's fatal, hasn't been nice knowing you, brat."

"O'malley!"

"Fine, he doesn't have a fever, if that's what you wanted to know."

"Thank you," Doc took the thermometer and handed O'malley his lunch, O'malley took both lunchboxes from Doc and went back to sitting in his corner.

"So, Gary, if it really hurts I guess you can call your parents and wait here until they pick you up!"

"I don't have parents." He'd gotten up to go to the phone next to O'malley regardless.

"That's right, you're Reggie's brother aren't you" Gary didn't respond and began dialing.

"Well anyways Gary, Donut and I are going to be down at the staff room for lunch, just ask O'malley if you need anything, he knows where I put everything."

They left the office and Donut had the feeling they probably shouldn't just be leaving them in there. The pair continued walking despite Donut's urge to go back and check on the two.

"Are you sure this is smart? O'malley's not really known for his people skills."

"He's not that bad!"

"Didn't he dunk your head in the toilet in highschool."

"He's just not that good at making friends is all."

"Doesn't he still do it sometimes?"

"Not that often, he doesn't even really mean it anymore!" Donut held the door open for Doc.

"I'm just saying, you shouldn't let him walk all over you like that! Why'd you even bring him here?"

"He said he'd be looking for a job, so I thought maybe he could help me out. It was this or the store, and I don't think Nate would be as accepting of O'malley as I am." Doc had retrieved a second lunchbox from the fridge and sat down at one of the two coffee tables.

"I still don't think leaving him there was the best idea."

"Well Flowers made it clear, O'malley's not allowed in here. And that guy's kinda scary," Doc pulled out his veggie wrap and soup.

"Yeah, he is." Donut pulled out a sandwich, sandwich being used in the loosest possible sense. It was a slice of bread in between two other slices of bread.

"Trying a new diet?"

"Yeah! Simmons suggested this one yesterday. I thought he was just being mean, but I think I've actually lost a lot of weight! I eat bread for every meal, then only drink at the top of every hour!"

"That doesn't really seem like it would work, but there's no arguing with results."

The two finished their lunches, making small talk about co-workers and students.

"But Grif's the new bus driver for 479, I heard the old one quit to be a astronaut, or was it a racecar driver, the kids keep changing it." Donut wiped the crumbs from his spot, grabbed his lunchbox, then went to hold the door for Doc.

"I had a student in my office the other day, she said it because she was actually a princess for a European county, and they had to track her down because she's the only heir to the throne."

"What country?"

"I think it was Italy." They'd reached the door and Donut almost slipped on the puddle that had formed in front of the door. Doc cautiously cracked the door open a bit, poked his head in, then pulled it back out.

"I, uh, better take care of this, see you tomorrow Donut!"

"Good luck!"

Donut headed back to his classroom, he had a Spanish quiz to pass out.

\---------

O'malley had been waiting for Doc to leave with his friend, he'd been mentally planning this for over a week now. The moment the door closed he jumped up into action and pulled the sorry excuses for icepacks, frozen wet paper towels in baggies, from the freezer opened them up, and threw them over the floor. They'd thaw out quite nicely down there. The click from behind him caught his attention partway through this act, the kid(Gabe?) had hung up the phone.

"Well that conversation was awfully short." In fact, he hadn't even spoken at all. The kid(Gavin? Garret? Gannon?) shrugged in response.

"Just don't interfere" O'malley then moved on to the more fun part of his plan. He took out the boxes of bandaids and stuck them everywhere. He focused on the one florescent light, covering it so it was substantially darker and covered the medical posters with them. He stuck one on the kid(Gary? Yes. Gary. That's it.) and when he didn't take it off O'malley put ten more on him. He'd make a good minion.

Once he ran out of bandaids O'malley sat on the counter next to the phone and after a moment's deliberation knocked it off before digging around the two lunches he'd gotten. He traded Doc's soup for Gary's applesauce.

Gary had just finished munching his own lunch when O'malley heard footsteps and voices coming closer to the room. O'malley didn't make any attempts to hide the wide smile he got when he recognized the voices. A few moments later Doc's brown haired head popped into the room, then right back out. O'malley only refrained from laughing so he could hear Doc's reaction. Doc had dismissed his friend and came into the room, assessing the situation better. Doc was taking cautious steps to not slip on the bags of wet paper towels.

"O'malley! Did you do this?" The accused man then threw on his best offended face.

"Now why would you say that? I was an angel this whole time, just ask Gary." Doc then noticed the bandaids on Gary and moved over to check on the kid.

"I'm so sorry Gary, is your brother on his way?"

"No, he decided it would be easier for me to walk home."

"Oh, well, I guess you can go then." Gary wasted no time getting out of there. Doc started quietly picking up the mess, O'malley could practically see the pacifist side arguing with the angry side. This fool needed to get a backbone. Once the nurse put the picked up paper towels on the counter the fiendish roommate slipped them back onto the floor.

"O'malley! You're being really really not-nice right now." Was he really now? Did he seriously just pick up on that?

"I've never been nice to you! I don't know why you keep sticking around, when I've made it clear, I'm not very nice."

"You don't have anyone else is why, I don't know what I'd do if you and Donut left."

"I have plenty of friends, all of them much better, more assertive and powerful than you!"

"Then why would you stick around me?" He actually never thought of that before. He never really chose to stick with this medically incapable idiot, he just did. It was fun to mess with him, but it also just felt like the natural thing to do. He'd grown accustomed to their bickering(Well, not really bickering, more Doc passively stating he didn't agree with what O'malley was planning, then going all sad and pathetic when O'malley did it anyways. Kind of like that annoying cricket from that kid's movie.)

Uhg, this was giving him a headache, not that he was going to tell Doc that, he'd try to give him rubbing alcohol or something equally ineffective/deadly.

"Because you're fun to watch." Doc paused long enough for O'malley to think he'd understood why he had paused for so long,

"Okay then" Doc continued picking up O'malley's mess, noticeably less conflicted.

Curse that pacifist fool.

\---------

If he'd known skipping class was going to be such an ordeal, Gary might have just taken the quiz even if he did fail. However, if he'd decided not to skip class he would have never found the odd glowing cube in the park. It made a humming noise when he picked it up, and he dropped it immediately. After making sure his hand wasn't affected he picked it up to inspect it further.

Gary almost dropped it again due to an out of place noise behind him. It sounded vaguely like a honk, he'd seen enough movies with Reggie to know that clowns were not something to mess around with. He turned around and saw a very intimidating man in a suit, he looked like a shady shark and not at all like a creepy clown. The man started trying to talk to him, speaking total gibberish and motioning towards the cube.

"This? It's mine, I'd just put it there for safekeeping. I'm not stealing it."

The adult didn't seem to like that answer and continued to do what Gary thought was negotiating. During one of his attempts to communicate, the man had accidentally brushed back part of the jacket, and Gary froze once he saw the gun that was tucked into the man's waistband. The shark-man noticed the middleschooler's staring and took out the gun, holding it loosely.

That was bad wasn't it, didn't gangsters do that in movies all the time, use the gun to vaguely motion until they shot the person at the receiving end. Gary had to think fast. He held the hand holding the cube as far away from the rest of his body as he could.

"Here, take the cube, do not shoot me" This would have sounded like outright panicking if anyone had said it, but he prided himself on his ability to keep his voice calm no matter what. There was an absolute 0% chance he said any of that in a high pitched, clearly freaking out tone. None at all.

The shady guy sighed and took the humming object from Gary's hand. Gary felt it being replaced with a piece of metal. He was now holding the gun in his hand, he quickly slipped it into his backpack before the man could take it back.

"Why did you do that." The man began to explain in his weird language, but stopped himself and slowly forced out one word in English.

"Trade" Gary thought over this one word answer. Sigmund had always been going on about how cool it would be to be a gang, they could all carry guns, and take whatever they wanted, and everyone would be too afraid to stop them. 

"If I were to find more stuff like this would you give us more guns? A lot of kids looking would be easier than just you." The man sighed, shrugged, and nodded. Gary caught one last grumbled angry word before he left.

"Shisno"

Once the shady-gangster-shark-guy left, Gary turned tail and ran back towards the school. He couldn't wait to tell his friends about the opportunity and he wasn't going to miss the second Day of Grif. He waited behind the school until the bell rang and he joined the swarms leaving the school. Gary called for his friends and Teddy started waving at him. He bumped into the bad nurse and his friend on his way towards them,

"Stupid shisnos" The nurse gave him a perplexed look but soon was pushed away in the crowd of students. Gary pulled his four friends, (Ellie, Iris, Sigmund, and Teddy) aside to wait for the bus to pull up.

"Hey, sit in the back, I have a something important to show you." The immediately started to press questions, but Gary mimed zipping his lips and that seem to stop them. 

 They filed in line to get on the bus, and coerced the eighth graders into letting them sit in the back. Once the door opened and they finally got back there(Teddy making a stop at the front to give Grif his pudding cup) Gary shifted so his back was too the rest of the kids on the bus.

"After I left gym, I went to the park, and look what I got." He pulled back the zipper on the backpack and revealed the gun. Ellie and Teddy both leaned away from it quickly, as though it would start shooting by itself, while Sigmund and Iris leaned closer. Sigmund broke into a large smile

"This is real right? Sorry Gary, but you're not exactly the most truthful"

"Like I said, I went to the park, and got it. There was this shady looking man, and he traded me this for some humming object I found." Iris spoke up at this,

"Was it a one time deal? Do you think he'd give me a gun if I gave him Ellie's cellphone?"

"Give him your own phone"

"If we find any more strange things, he said he will trade us weapons for them."

"Should we tell Vanessa about this? I think she'd help us"

"No Teddy, we've got to keep this between us,"

"Wait, Sigmund, he has a point. If we work together we could make our own army!" Iris had to be shushed by her sister before she reached yelling volume.

"I still don't trust her, Lucas and Felix are a bit too easily swayed, and she's sure to tell them about the deal, and they'll take over. It'll be the homework passes all over again." Ellie had her planning face on, so Gary made sure to pay attention to her next words.

"What if, we did team up. But instead of staying two separate groups, we were one unit under the name of a mutual ally." Gary looked to Sigmund who was looking to the front of the bus where Vanessa was talking with her friends.

"Sigmund, I may have an idea for the leader." Gary shifted his gaze to one at almost the same trajectory as his ambitious friend, but a little bit further down the bus than where the rival leader sat. Teddy caught where his gaze was aimed, and was followed by the others.

"I may have a small chat with Vanessa. After all, we have a proposition for her" Sigmund made his way carefully down the aisle and tapped the eighth grader's shoulder.

Gary was glad he did not miss the second Day of Grif.

\---------

Driving a bus full of middleschoolers was looking to be the best choice Grif had made in a while. They pick up on hints easier than kindergartners and some of them had brought him their deserts from lunch, the cafeteria had given out pudding cups. They were also fun, and pretty much rolled with whatever he decided to do. This meant that when they pulled up at a stoplight and the yellow rental car that came up next to them started revving it's engine, they started cheering him on to do the same. Well, he can't disappoint his fans now could he? The only time he maybe regretted racing the car was when the bus almost tipped going around the turn. He pulled to a stop at the next light as the yellow buggy beat him there, he wasn't too surprised but the kids had started booing the other car. He heard familiar tones shouting indecipherable words at him. He opened the bus doors and called back.

"I knew I recognized those horrible driving skills,"

"Come on, I'm better than you by a mile."

"Why'd you show up anyways?"

"I called! Sure it was when I was at the airport, about to leave, but still." She leaned out the window and looked at the student's staring through their windows at her.

"Are those kids? I mean, Dex, I knew you were getting close to the guy, but mass adoption seems like a pretty weird kink"

"Wait, what? No! It's not like that. I'm a bus driver, Kai. Here, just. Wait for my next stop, I'll introduce you." Grif closed the door and made the turn at the light, pulling up at the next stop. His sister got out of her own car and stepped on in. Grif motioned to her with one hand.

"Hey guys, this is my sister. Sister, kids, kids, sister. Shake hands or something when you get off. And if you see her with a guy tell him to back off or else." A few kids grabbed their backpacks, said quick goodbyes to their friends and gave highfives, fistbumps, and handshakes to both her and Grif on their way out.

Kaikaina leaned over to him and whispered poorly,

"They're so tiny though"

"No, they're cool, trust me. You gonna stay for a ride?"

"Would you drive me back to the car?"

"No, probably not"

"I'll just drive behind you."

"Fine, but we do need to talk, have you had lunch yet?"

"Well, I had a pack of peanuts on the plane, and then this one guy at the car rental place said he'd buy me a spicy tamale or something like that but then he-"

"I'll take that as a no then. Fine, there's a restaurant near here, we'll go once I'm done." At that he shooed Sister off the bus, he had kids to drop off. She waved at the remaining kids and they all waved back. She got in the yellow buggy and followed Grif for the rest of his stops. Once he parked it back at the school he got into his sister's car and gave her directions to Valhalla.

"So where did you plan on staying"

"Well...... Could I stay with you?" Grif laughed

"Simmons can barely talk to girls, I don't think you suddenly showing up wearing whatever it is you're in now would be that smart. Even if it would get him off my back about the mess, I don't think I could do that to the guy."

"Aw, does he blush? Cuz that's kinda ho-"

"Now that I think about it, I know just the person. In a relationship, looking for a roommate, and, most importantly, not a guy."

\---------

Tucker only liked waiting on tables at the Valhalla bar and grill when there were chicks he could pick up, and so far today, the only ladies who'd come in were those who'd beat him up if he tried anything. So naturally he tried nearly every pickup line he had on them. They still weren't impressed. Around one Wash showed up with two guys trailing behind him, one with a messed up eye, the other one built like a tank and inked up.

"Hey, Tex, who's that with the resident cop?" Tex was working on the grill and only gave a cursory glance at the pair Tucker was referring too.

"He finally got some backup, Sarge met them after he got caught, Caboose helped move their desks in yesterday."

"Looks like we've got to step up our game then." He went out and took their orders for the drinks. Wash greeted him as he came to the table,

"Look who it is! Tucker, meet Maine and York, they got here yesterday and will not hesitate to throw your butt in jail."

"Hey man, I haven't broken any of your little rules yet this week, I'd say I'm off to a pretty good start. Now before I get Tex yelling at me, I'm gonna do my job. What drinks do you all want?"

Tucker continued working, occasionally glancing up at the new guys. The one missing an eye, York, kept telling these stories and gesturing wildly while the other, Maine, would occasionally say a word or two and make various growling noises. They seemed nice enough, despite their initially frightening appearance, they wouldn't actually try to kill him if he tried to mess with them. He didn't think he could just slip away from the scene of the "crime" as easily as he'd done in the past. Well, maybe if he used that left side to his advantage. Sunday was going to be fun.

After an hour or so of talking the cops left, probably to patrol or whatever it was real cops did. Right as the cops left, however, Tucker spotted some girl he hadn't seen in town before coming in with Grif, of all people. He put on his best charming smile and went to give them menus, leading them to a seat close to the kitchens.

"Why hello miss, what're you doing with this dirty red, when you could be dining with this cool blue?" Grif snipped that flirting at the bud.

"She's my sister, and no, you're not allowed near her, in fact, you have to stay three feet away minimum at all times." Tucker looked him right in the eye and took a step closer to Sister.

"Okay, that's it we're leaving, Oreos for your welcome dinner it is Kai." The sister snorted,

"Aw, come on, he's just kidding. Besides, isn't this where that Text girl is?" The door next to her opened at this and Tex came out.

"Heard a butchering of my name, is this guy bugging you? I could kick him into next week if you want."

"Naw, he's fine-"

"Yeah, he's trying to get in my sister's pants" Tex raised her eyebrows

"Sister huh? Didn't know you had one,"

"Yeah, here she is. Anyways, I needed to ask you about something" Tex sent Tucker to go around to other tables while she handled this one, which sucked because he'd been close to getting her number he could feel it. As the day later began to wind down Tucker was finishing sweeping the floor when Tex slipped him a small piece of paper.

"You owe me one."

"What did they want?"

"It turns out all the Grifs have bad planning skills, so I just scored myself a roommate, and you just scored yourself a number."

All in all, he could say today had been a successful day.

\---------

Sarah Dakota woke up like she normally did, tired and grouchy.

This was normal.

She and Nate dropped off Teddy at the bus stop his friends were at, then went to the supermarket where Caboose was standing inside, at a register despite the store not being open yet.

This was normal.

She got chewed out a bit for not locking up or setting up the security system.

This was normal.

In fact, the entire day was normal except for two points; right after Caboose's second break, and right before closing time. Caboose was going on about something she, today he was going on about Church and leprechauns, and that struck a nerve in Sarah for a reason she couldn't pinpoint. Caboose then mentioned helping her fight the leprechaun thief and she felt angry. She took her lunch break early after that. She started locking up at the end of the day while Nate was nagging her about locking up.

"Set up the system this time, I got it for a reason." She rolled her eyes and started punching in the code to set it up.

"One guy breaks in, and suddenly the world's at an end, we don't need it Nate."

"Then just set the motion tracker so we know if anyone's running around."

"No one will, that was a one time thing, and if it's not-"

"If it's not, then we'll be sorry you didn't set the tracker!" His stern tone made her double take, her head was hurting and she was feeling the same anger she had felt at Caboose earlier, she leaned on the wall.

"Say that again"

"You'll be sorry if you don't set it up, Sarah-"

"Stop North, just, I-...I need some air." She rushed finish setting the alarm ran out of the store, leaving her brother very confused.

"North?..."

Sarah had woken up that morning, everything was normal. South had woken up that night, and she had messed stuff up. She had a feeling things were still going to keep going down from here. She'd already had a bad week and it was only Tuesday.


End file.
